Daisy’s Basics: Week 4

  Little Daisy is making tremendous progress with her basics. She’s so smart and she picks things up so fast that it can be a bit of a challenge to keep her challenged and engaged. Last night, she started learning “leave it”. It was a great challenge for her, because it involved one of her favorite things: food. It took her a bit of time to figure out what was being asked of her, but once she understood, she did a great job with the exercise.

We also began doing some loose-leash work, to teach her how to walk nicely on the leash in a heel position. Both Tyler and Casandra have already been taking her on short walks, so Daisy already has an idea about walking beside them instead of trying to pull ahead or wander around. Considering how young she is – only 13 weeks – and in light of the fact that she just has to smell and try to eat the frozen grass, Daisy actually did a pretty good job. Outside is a very distracting place for her, so she’s going to need lots of help from her people to keep her focused on them and walking nicely.

Working a puppy outdoors in the winter can be hard simply because it’s winter. Weather plays a huge role in the amount of time you can reasonably spend outside. Fortunately, Casandra and Tyler’s home is designed in such a way that they have room to work on her leash manners indoors on really cold days.

Daisy is doing all the things puppies her age do: counter surfing [she’s big enough to reach the counters], climbing up on the table, eating things she shouldn’t [she has a thing for toilet paper], and so on. But her nipping has started to evolve into licking instead when she’s playing with her little humans and she gets overly excited. And she’s begun sleeping with her autistic human, Spencer – which was one of the things her family wanted. She’s also learning how to be with him safely when he’s feeling agitated, and Casandra and Tyler are teaching Spencer how to let her help him. It’s actually quite a beautiful thing.

Overall, Daisy is doing phenomenally well for her age. Her family is working hard with her and helping her become the very best dog she can be. Working with her and her family has been a great pleasure for me, and I look forward to continuing our journey together.

Have a great day, and remember: Stay calm and lead on.